Liberalism, Communitarianism and Education


Book Description

Communitarian thinkers have identified important deficiencies in liberal thought, in particular the limits of the account of justice given in liberal theories. This book makes transparent for the reader the implications that the liberal account of justice has for our ways of thinking about education. Citing the work of John Rawls as the principal expression of contemporary liberal thought, Keeney argues that there are certain intractable tensions between the view of the individual given in rights-based theories of justice and a certain valuable conception of education, which in the West has traditionally been termed a "liberal" or "general" education and concludes that ideals of a liberal education are only available to a political ethic which is capable of articulating a public conception of virtue and the good.







Schools and Community


Book Description

Communitarianism, as a movement, is clearly a dominant theme within New Labour's educational policy. How does this affect education and the life and work of schools? Research has shown that there is a correlation between academic achievement and the strength of community life and awareness within a school. The aim of this book, therefore, is to introduce communitarian thought to classroom teachers and to those working in education. The book contextualizes the current debates within education around the many topical ideas being developed by communitarian thinkers, including: character building; the role of parents; the community and the individual; values education and citizenship; community education; and standards and ethos in schools. Throughout, the book makes specific reference to the practical implications for both primary and secondary schools as well as for further education colleges. This is a timely book that should be of interest to all those working in schools and with children and young people. It aims to be a guide to this important and highly influential movement that is shaping our educational future.




Beyond Communitarianism


Book Description

This book investigates different notions of communitarianism and citizenship, and their application within a number of fields, in particular education, politics and social welfare. Whilst there can be no doubt that most observers regard the responsible conduct of citizens as a goal worth pursuing, difficult problems lie with questions of how, and indeed whether, responsible citizenship can be achieved. This book looks beyond communitarian ideology to investigate more detailed discussion of citizenship in contemporary society.




Liberalism, Neoliberalism, Social Democracy


Book Description

In moving beyond the theses of liberalism and neoliberalism that have provided philosophical support to free-market economics from the 1970s until the present, this book seeks to re-theorize social democracy by reconsidering issues such as totalitarianism, freedom, the role of the state, and the political arrangements needed for the future.




Liberalism, Education and Schooling


Book Description

A tribute collection of essays edited by author's colleagues and friends.







A Communitarian Defense of Liberalism


Book Description

In this provocative and timely reading of Emile Durkheim the author isolates the merits and liabilities of both liberal and communitarian theories and demonstrates that we need not be in the position of having to choose between them.




Liberals and Communitarians


Book Description

This is a substantially updated edition of the established guide to this key debate in modern political philosophy.




Individualism And Community


Book Description

Examining, in the widest sense, the changes in political philosophy that have occurred in Western capitalist states since the early 1980s, this book focuses on the introduction of neo-liberal principles in the combined area of social and education policy. New Zealand presents a paradigm example of the neo-liberal shift in political philosophy. From constituting the social laboratory of the Western world in the 1930s in terms of social welfare provision, New Zealand has become the neo-liberal experiment of the fully marketised society in the 1990s. Against the theoretical background of educational theory and practice, this book examines neo-liberalism and its critiques as responses to the so-called crisis of the welfare state and argues for a reformulated critical social policy in the postmodern condition. The conclusions about social policy drawn by the authors can be generalized to similar situations in other Western capitalist countries.